Answer for Oral Question PL019

QUESTION

Yang Berhormat Dayang Hajah Rosmawatty binti Haji Abdul Mumin

YANG BERHORMAT DAYANG HAJAH ROSMAWATTY BINTI HAJI ABDUL MUMIN requested MENTERI DI JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI to state the Energy Department's plans to ensure that new upstream project companies will ensure local participation in building their capabilities in various fields, including technical innovation, commercial, digital, data skills, automation and artificial intelligence, which will enable locals to become technical owners and decision-makers.

ANSWER

Yang Berhormat Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri

The Government, through the Energy Department at the Prime Minister's Office, is committed to ensuring that the development of the country's upstream industry remains robust in order to guarantee energy security, continuity in oil and gas production, and the resilience of the national economy in the long term.

In recent years, the country's upstream industry landscape has shown positive development with the entry and expansion of participation by new operators, including Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad and EnQuest EP BV Limited. Over the next five to ten years, the country is targeting greater participation by new operators, with the potential for more than ten operators to be operating in the country. In line with the maturation of some existing fields, the development of the country's upstream industry is now also focused on frontier areas, including exploration in deeper waters and the potential use of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technology to maximise production from mature fields. These developments require new competencies and skills in technical, digital, data analytics and energy technology innovation fields.

In this regard, the Energy Department ensures that every upstream project development also serves as a platform for developing local capacity, in line with the aspirations of Wawasan Brunei 2035 to produce an educated and highly skilled population capable of becoming technical owners and decision-makers in the energy industry.

For this purpose, the Energy Department at the Prime Minister's Office has enforced the Bruneianisation Directive since 2018 as a key policy instrument to ensure that local workforce development is implemented systematically. This directive requires operator companies to prepare clear recruitment plans, talent development plans, succession plans and localisation strategies, with the long-term target of achieving at least 90 per cent local citizen workforce across various skill levels. Emphasis is also placed on filling strategic and critical positions to ensure that the transfer of expertise takes place progressively and in a planned manner. This has now resulted in an increase in local professionals holding leadership positions such as Finance Director and Technical Director in upstream operations. In addition, local workforce development is further strengthened through provisions in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), which require operator companies to implement training, competency development, technology transfer and leadership development programmes to prepare locals to undertake technical, commercial and management roles.

At the same time, local capacity development is further strengthened through the implementation of Arahan Pembangunan Perniagaan Tempatan (LBD), which encourages the participation of local companies in the oil and gas industry's value chain and creates opportunities for the transfer of technology and expertise to the local workforce.

These efforts are also supported through the Manpower Industry Steering Committee (MISC) – Energy, which coordinates workforce planning among the Government, industry and educational institutions to ensure that skills development is aligned with the future needs of the energy sector. Through this coordination, skills gaps can be identified at an early stage, competency standards can be established consistently, and targeted talent development interventions can be implemented.

Overall, these measures ensure that the development of the country's upstream industry will continuously strengthen the development of local expertise. This approach will increase domestic value added and ensure that the development of the country's energy sector continues to be driven by the leadership, expertise and capabilities of local talent.